Bangladesh: What was the Pope thinking? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sadiq on debunking the Pope's statement on Islam. “His allegation is incorrect. Surah 2 is a Medinan surah revealed when Muhammad was already established as the leader of the city of Yathrib (later known as Medina or “the city” of the Prophet). The pope imagines that a young Muhammad in Mecca before 622 (lacking power) permitted freedom of conscience, but later in life ordered that his religion be spread by the sword.”